


fate loves the fearless

by possibilityleft



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: (Actually a Trick), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Extra Treat, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 09:16:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5086306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're three hours out of Alderaan when Han knocks the kid in the head from behind with a wrench.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fate loves the fearless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilpocketninja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilpocketninja/gifts).



They're three hours out of Alderaan when Han knocks the kid in the head from behind with a wrench. Chewie's got the old man. His hands fit over his throat, easy, and Chewie knows when to stop squeezing. They're paying more if they're both alive; Han doesn't care why but he needs the funds. Next time, Jabba isn't going to be _asking_.

He hands the pair over in Cloud City and spends half his reward losing at sabacc, waking in the morning with his face plastered to the table and a terrible taste in his mouth.

"Getting too old for this," he says.

Lando has probably won the Falcon back, considering how much Han drank last night, but Han doesn't let that bother him. Chewie has the spare key in his bandolier, and Han knows where to find him. They're in space before Lando's picked out his cape for the day.

Han smuggles. He's got Chewie to back him up and a rusty bucket of bolts to fly -- no one could call her that but him, in the privacy of his mind, but he definitely thinks it a lot when he's up to his elbows in a hot engine, deadline looming.

He hears later that the kid got away -- nothing about the old man, for all the weird powers he claimed he had. Doesn't matter to him. The Empire's credit is good, for all their flaws, and they paid him almost enough to get out from under Jabba. That is, of course, how Jabba likes it -- almost. If Han believed in fate, he would believe in that.

The princess is another story. He sees her on all the screens, after Vader executes her and her entire planet. The Rebellion is snuffed, and Han's firmly on the winning side, for all that he cares.

He dreams about her for days after, the stubborn jut of her chin and the way she stared right into the gaze of whoever was stuck making the recording. He can't quit seeing her eyes. Defeated, dress ripped and hair loose, she is the most regal person he's ever seen. She doesn't falter, not to the end.

He doesn't tell Chewie about the dreams, even though Chewie knows his sleep has been restless -- there's no keeping secrets on a ship the size of the Falcon. But Chewie doesn't ask, which is one of the things that Han likes about him. They're business partners. If it doesn't affect the business, Chewie doesn't care.

And as for Han, when he wakes up on the floor of the cabin, shivering all over despite the muggy heat of the busted environmental systems, he just picks himself back up, climbs into the hammock, and goes back to sleep.


End file.
